This invention relates generally to a carton useful for shipping and displaying articles contained therein and particularly to cartons used in shipping and displaying grocery items devised for permitting the opening of the carton with the use of tools.
It has been reported by grocery store chains that considerable amounts of money are lost each year due to inadvertent cutting of grocery items because of the use of tools such as knives for the cutting and opening of cartons containing various grocery items. In particular, these losses have occurred when the carton contains cereal boxes or other grocery items which utilize cardboard boxes, paper bags and the like as articles contained in the cartons. Besides soft food containers mentioned above being damaged by means of the use of knives by store clerks for opening the original shipping containers, damages also incur to hard form articles contained in cartons, such as food containers which are made of plastic. Even bottle caps have been damaged by inadvertent use of knives or other tools to facilitate the opening of original containers.
Some shipping containers utilize very heavy duty staples which must be removed before carton flaps can be folded back to expose the contents of the container. Such tools as screwdrivers, hammers, knives and other elongated forms of devices are utilized to pry open individual staples thus, effecting damage to the articles contained in the container adjacent the top cover being opened.
In either of these events, time is expended in order to accomplish opening of the shipping carton. After opening, the portions of the carton remaining after removal of the parts thereof to permit either a display of the contents or removal thereof occupy considerable space especially when many cartons are being opened in a particular area. These situations in turn require additional time and manpower to condition the expended portions of the container so that the same may be placed in piles for disposal.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,746 discloses a shipping case particularly devised for minimizing the effect of the use of opening a large box to expose ready to eat cereal cartons and the like. The disadvantage with this type of shipping box is that a knife blade must still be used in order to open the box, and the potential for damage to the contents of the shipping and also possible injury to the shipping clerk, still remains. The shipping box disclosed in this patent is relatively complex, is not readily and easily fabricated, and results in expended parts which must be handled once again in order to condition the same for eventual disposal.
A display box is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,387 which is relatively complicated for use as a shipping container for articles to be transported and/or displayed. The box basically comprises a lower portion for containing articles to be displayed and an upper cover pivotally related thereto so that the cover is adapted to be readily opened to expose the articles. For low priced grocery items this type of box would be far too expensive for economical merchandising. Furthermore, the two basic portions of the box are not easily flattened in order to permit disposal thereof.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,257,065, a single carton blank is disclosed as being devised to form a carton having a lower member for containing articles to be shipped or displayed and a top pivotal cover for closing the lower member. The blank includes numerous foldable flaps having glue applied thereto at specific locations in order to provide a carton for goods such as frozen items and to protect these against loss of moisture. In some uses the carton may be used for goods for protecting the same against the moisture from atmosphere. In any event, the removal of the cover for the carton would require considerable amounts of manual handling and the prospect that a knife blade may be necessary to augment this effort.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,342,894, 2,219,039 and 1,431,133, display boxes are disclosed which are comprised essentially of a base portion and a cover pivotally mounted thereon in order to permit exposure to the interior of the base member and displaying of the article therein. These boxes are relatively complex and therefore not suitable for shipping and disposal thereof after the articles contained therein are removed. These boxes are relatively expensive and cannot be considered disposable after a single use or shipment. A single blank foldable box is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,767,733 which blank does not need adhesive material in which to hold the various panels and flaps included therewith. Rather than adhesive material various locking flaps and tongues are utilized in cooperation with slots to assist in folding the panels into a box configuration. While the box may be very quickly and easily assembled and locked so that it can be handled roughly, many manipulative steps must be taken in order to unlock the locking devices in order to expose the contents of a box. More than likely a store clerk would utilize a knife blade to effect quicker opening of the box thereby increasing the opportunities of damaging the contents by use of such a tool.
In order to overcome the disadvantages described above, the present invention was devised so that the cover of the carton may be easily removed manually without the use of a knife blade or other tool and which when removed may be easily flattened for tieing, stacking, and removal. The parts of the carton are very simple in construction, may be easily fabricated and assembled, and when assembled, are capable of easy carrying, transporting and stacking for storage purposes without damaging the carton or its contents.
The carton of the present invention comprises two members each of which is formed from simple blanks and when joined together in telescoping fashion provide a compact carton suitable for rough handling and shipping. The base member of the carton utilizes upturned edge panels which are held erect by flaps suitably glued to the panels. The edge panels extend upwardly but are of a height less than the height of the articles being supported by the base member. The cover cap member which serves as the top member for the carton has edge panels corresponding to the edge panels of the base member. The corresponding edge panels are attached at their ends by adhesive material applied to the corners of the base member, thereby leaving midportions of the panels free to permit the insertion of the fingers of a store clerk and the quick manual separation of opposite edge panels. Such quick movement by the user will separate the portions of the panels which are attached by the adhesive material. These manipulative actions are applied to the side panels of the top cover in one movement and the end panels by another movement, thereby completely releasing the top cover cap from the carton and exposing the contents therein. Such action to remove the top cover conditions the same for stacking with other such covers for the eventual disposal thereof.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to permit the opening of a carton containing articles by simple manipulative steps only, and without the aid of external tools.
It is another object of the invention to utilize a shipping carton suitable for display comprising simple and inexpensive parts which are very easy to fabricate and assemble and which incurs little loss when disposed of after only a single use.